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Updated: Apr 12, 2026
Microfluidics-based High-throughput Circulating Tumor Cell Sorting and Single-cell Sequencing Technology
Published on: November 14, 2025
A microfluidic device for label-free, physical capture of circulating tumor cell clusters
A Fatih Sarioglu1, Nicola Aceto2, Nikola Kojic3
11] Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [2] Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [3] Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
A new microchip technology, the Cluster-Chip, efficiently captures circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters from blood. This breakthrough enables better understanding of cancer metastasis and the role of CTC clusters.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biotechnology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Metastasis involves circulating tumor cells (CTCs) traveling as single cells or multicellular clusters.
- Current CTC isolation methods primarily target single cells, limiting the study of CTC clusters.
- The prevalence and metastatic significance of CTC clusters are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel microchip technology for capturing intact circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters.
- To assess the prevalence of CTC clusters in patients with metastatic cancers.
- To enable further biological characterization of CTC clusters.
Main Methods:
- Development of the Cluster-Chip, a microchip with specialized bifurcating traps.
- Isolation of CTC clusters from unprocessed blood under low-shear stress conditions.
- RNA sequencing of captured CTC clusters.
Main Results:
- The Cluster-Chip efficiently captures CTC clusters, including small two-cell clusters.
- CTC clusters were identified in 30-40% of patients with metastatic breast cancer, prostate cancer, or melanoma.
- RNA sequencing confirmed the tumor origin of clusters and revealed the presence of macrophages.
Conclusions:
- The Cluster-Chip is an effective tool for capturing CTC clusters from patient blood.
- CTC clusters are prevalent in patients with metastatic cancers.
- This technology will facilitate research into the biology and metastatic role of CTC clusters.
